This invention relates to a card connector for use in various electric and electronic appliances such as a mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), printer, card reader and the like for inputting and outputting signals into and from a memory card inserted into the card connector, and more particularly to a card connector with a structure achieving connection by merely inserting two different cards having equal lengths in the inserting direction and different widths and thicknesses.
In recent years, with the wide spread use of small type mobile phones and digital cameras and the like, memory cards having a large memory capacity and a compact shape have been used. A wide variety of memory cards have also been used depending upon characteristics and the like of appliances with which the memory cards are used, for example, SD card (Secure Digital memory card, registered trademark, referred to hereinafter just as “SD card”), Memory Stick card (registered trademark, referred to hereinafter just as “MS card”), and Micro type memory cards more downsized by MMC card (registered trademark) such as SD Micro card (registered trademark), Memory Stick Micro card (registered trademark), and Micro MMC card (registered trademark). Accordingly, as devices for writing and reading onto and from these various memory cards, memory card reader writers are increasingly being used in computers themselves or as peripheral devices.
As examples of card connectors using tray systems, incorporated herein are Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2006-127,808 (Patent Literature 1) and Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-123,252 (Patent Literature 2).
Patent Literature 1
According to the abstract of the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2006-127,808, this invention has an object to provide a connector for small type cards, including a tray and a slide member compactly arranged.
Disclosed is a card connector 1 according to this prior art including a tray 10 on which a card C is to be loaded, and a slide member 12 movable together with the tray 10 relatively to the housing 2, wherein the tray 10 comprises a notch portion 10c at the rear end corner positioned on the side of insertion of the card C, and at least part 12b of the slide member 12 is arranged in a space formed by the notch portion 10c. 
Patent Literature 2
According to the abstract of the Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-123,252, the object of this invention is to provide a card connector 10 enabling a reduced overall height of the connector with a simple construction, and this object can be achieved by a card connector 10 adapted to be connected to at least two cards 60 and including contacts 14 corresponding to the number of the cards 60, a tray 16 in which at least two cards 60 can be located, and a housing 12 having a fitting opening 20 for receiving the tray 16 and arranging and holding said contacts 14. As a card connector 10 adapted to be connected to four cards 60, disclosed is a card connector including contacts 14 of four kinds, a tray 16 having a card loading portion 22 into which the four cards 60 can be loaded, and a housing 12 for arranging and holding the contacts 14 of four kinds and having a fitting opening 20 for receiving the tray 16.
In recent years, with the miniaturization of appliances, the need for connectors to be more miniaturized has become stronger and the connectors have become lighter and more compact. On the other hand, according to specifications or requirements of customers, although there is an enough space in the direction of height of a connector, the size of the connector (occupied area of a substrate) is often limited.
With the tray systems described above, however, using a single tray inevitably enlarges the connector (occupied area of its substrate). In order to avoid such an enlargement of the connector (occupied area of the substrate) by the use of the single tray, use of a plurality of trays has often been proposed. However, the use of a plurality of trays would increase management cost, and insertion of a wrong tray is a problem to be solved.